Abstract:

The virtual classroom environment requires adequate leadership from the teacher to guide students towards better learning. The present research had the objective of knowing the relationship between the different styles of teacher leadership and the academic performance of students in a virtual education context. A mixed sequential approach (quantitative and then qualitative) was performed. The first part of the research was quantitative, with a non-experimental cross-sectional design and with a correlational scope. In this first stage, the sample consisted of 79 high school teachers from different educational institutions in Lima, Peru. The sample had an average age of 35.18 (SD = 4.8), 55% were women and 45% men, 53% work in public institutions, while 47% in private institutions. To evaluate the leadership styles in teachers, the Leadership Styles questionnaire (CELID-A) was applied; on the other hand, for the academic performance variable, the average of the final grades obtained by the students of the evaluated teacher was considered. The second part had a qualitative approach, with a phenomenological design. In this stage, we aimed to know the main challenges faced by teachers with a transformational leadership style in the context of virtual classes. The participants in this sample were 14 high school teachers from different educational institutions.

A significant and positive relationship (r = .39, p <.001) between the teacher's transformational leadership style and the students' academic performance was found; on the other hand, a significant and negative relationship (r = -29, p <.01) between the Laissez faire leadership style and academic performance was observed. No significant relationship between Transactional style and academic performance (r = -13, p> .05) was found. Significant differences in relation to the transformational style were found, teachers from public educational institutions obtained higher scores than those from private institutions. On the other hand, no significant differences according to the teachers’ gender were found. In the second stage of the study, it was found that the main challenges faced by teachers were: (1) The change in the way of teaching; This change forced them to leave their comfort zone and adapt the content and development of the class to a virtual environment. (2) Be more empathetic with students; This new digital context required teachers to rapidly develop a bond with students to promote environments of safety and trust, where the student can make mistakes and try again without fear. (3) Difficulty of internet access for students in public schools. The latter led to teachers having to innovate in the way they communicate and motivate students, for example: record videos or audios about the class of the day and send them by WhatsApp, upload videos to the YouTube platform so that students can watch them when they had internet access, etc. These results indicate that a type of transformational leadership contributes to a better academic performance of students in the virtual environment. Also, this kind of leadership plays an important role in adverse contexts, helping to find solutions so that student learning is not affected.